Room to Grow

Everything Ramiza-san had said was true, and none of the three of us, myself included, could even argue back.

It wasn't that we'd neglected gathering information, but we hadn't been putting that information to good use.

A heavy, gloomy atmosphere settled over us.

Watching us, Ramiza-san chuckled wryly and bit into a strip of dried meat.

"Sorry, sorry. Did I go too far? Hurt your feelings?"

"I'm not so petty as to get angry over having the truth pointed out."

"Oh, really?"

"… Honestly, I was just too deflated to say anything."

"Reflection is important. Being able to do it means you're still alive."

Alexia-san sighed as she said that.

Our party had always relied on Alexia-san as our main source of firepower, and she'd answered that call every time.

No matter the situation, she was the one who carved a path forward.

I had never doubted her strength.

"You said fire magic's your specialty, right? Show me."

"Fine. It'll make noise, so keep an eye out for monsters."

"Sure. They won't cross between floors, so we should be fine."

At Ramiza-san's request, Alexia-san stood and aimed her right hand at the labyrinth wall.

Then, as usual, she channeled magical power through her fire brooch and the spirit dwelling within it, concentrated it in her right hand, and unleashed a fire spell.

The compressed magical energy became a superheated ball of flame and slammed into the wall.

A thunderous boom shook the labyrinth.

The point of impact glowed red-hot, and part of it had melted.

That was Alexia-san's magic.

Overwhelming firepower that had mowed down countless enemies.

The kind of power that made you believe nothing else was needed.

"That your full power?"

"Anything stronger would require an incantation. And inside a labyrinth, the aftereffects could consume all the oxygen."

"I see. So that's the strongest you can do without chanting inside a labyrinth. You do know about fire's toxicity, of course."

"Coming from someone higher ranked than us, what's your honest assessment?"

Alexia-san was clearly confident in her fire magic.

Unlike before, there was no dejection on her face.

Ramiza-san's expression didn't change as she spoke.

"More than adequate, wouldn't you say? I'd say you've nearly maxed out your potential in the fire school. Personally, I'm more interested in that brooch and what's inside it."

"Sharp eyes…"

"Curiosity's all I run on. Let me see."

Alexia-san removed the fire brooch and handed it to Ramiza-san.

A fragment of a Fire Elemental dwelled within the brooch's gemstone, and a tiny flame flickered and danced inside.

Ramiza-san studied it with great interest.

Her gaze seemed as if it could see through anything.

"So a high-rarity accessory that happened to become home to a spirit. And both are fire-attuned. No wonder you leaned so heavily into fire magic. The output must be night and day compared to other elements."

"You can tell? Yes. The difference in magical conversion efficiency is staggering. Honestly, using any other element feels like wearing weights."

"That's what normal is supposed to feel like, you know. So on top of already being talented with fire, this stacked even more on top of it… No wonder someone with magical power that could hold its own among upper-tier mages has neglected everything besides fire. If you'd had a teacher, that would've been the first thing they corrected…"

"As you might guess, I've always been self-taught. Both magic and adventuring."

We'd honed our skills in the crucible of real combat.

That sounded admirable, but it also meant we'd had no one to learn from.

"Asking Yohane-kun to fix that would be a tall order. He might know business, but magic's completely over his head. Have you ever seen a mage more skilled than yourself?"

"… Recently, yes. One. An elf named Evalin."

"An elf?! They actually exist? I tried to find them once but never could."

Ramiza-san was genuinely surprised.

She'd apparently known of their existence, at least.

"She's staying at the royal castle. You can meet her if you go."

"Really? But if I set foot in the castle, they'd definitely rope me into work. I'll tag along next time Yohane-kun goes. An elf, though… you must have gotten a taste of what a complete mage looks like, then."

"As much as it pains me to admit it, she was on another level. I was outclassed in everything except fire."

"Figures. And even that was only barely managing with your spirit's help, right? Specializing in your strength is natural, but neglecting everything else creates a massive gap against someone who trains properly across the board. Besides, the elements are all interconnected."

Ramiza-san began drawing something on the ground with her staff.

"Generation, subjugation, augmentation, contempt. Water extinguishes fire, earth blocks water, wood roots itself in earth, wood is cut by metal. And metal is melted by fire."

"This looks like… elemental theory, but not quite."

"It's called the Five Phases, a framework that divides everything in the natural world into five categories. I found it in a text I got from the East. It's quite fascinating and applies to elemental magic too. For instance, if you can use wind magic, you can strengthen your fire magic. Conversely, water magic weakens fire. And if that generates steam, it affects earth magic as well. Master every element, and magic becomes capable of anything."

"That's… true. That elf was constantly combining spells to match the situation, wielding magic as naturally as if she were controlling the weather."

The image of Evalin-san dispelling the rainclouds that had been pouring heavy rain and turning the sky clear was something I still couldn't forget.

Surely, that was what people meant by a divine miracle.

"Magic really is cheating, honestly. Only the gifted can wield it. For someone like me, alchemy is how I try to replicate it. That's why I think it'd be such a waste for someone with real talent to stop at mastering fire and call it a day. I guarantee, once you've trained in the other elements, going back to fire magic will feel completely different."

"… You really don't hold back, do you? But you're right. That elf didn't just have absurd magical power. Her technique let her dominate the entire space as though she held it in the palm of her hand."

She'd fought a colossal Sky Whale single-handedly, after all.

Raw magical power alone couldn't explain that.

"Here, take it back. Fire Elementals are rare, so treasure it."

"We also have Water, Wind, and Earth Elementals with us."

"… What?"

That was the first time during this expedition that I'd seen Ramiza-san look genuinely flustered.

"Then you should definitely be using other magic!"

"Urk. When you put it that way…"

Alexia-san was taking an uncharacteristic beating and looked visibly deflated.

Maybe she had a lot on her mind as a mage.

Meeting someone as extraordinary as Evalin right before this probably didn't help.

"Oops, conversation's over."

Alexia-san turned toward the corridor and grabbed her battle-axe.

"Monsters incoming, drawn by the noise. Break's over."

"Nooo."

"Come on, on your feet, senpai."

"Yeah, yeah."

Ramiza-san stood with a show of reluctance.

What emerged from the corridor was a swarm of spiders and snakes.